Drip Irrigation

[Slugmar]

While this year I'm flood irrigating my land, I deciede that there is to much for me to weed alone. I plan to install a drip system for next year. So I have some question for those that might know.

I'm researching but its going slow so Ill give you the basic of my garden.

I have 30 rows 600 ft long the garden is over 200ft wide, Ill be pumping out of a creek and most of the rows will be covered in black plastic all except my corn. But each row should have a drip tape or system of some type.

On the setup could it I do 30 rows of 600ft drip tape or should I break it down into smaller section like 200 to 100 ft section ?

How much pressure will I need to feed such a big drip system ?

[Ryanstones]

Here's a good place to start:
http://www.dripworksusa.com/design.php

With that much garden you might ask for the commercial rates.

[foxtrapper]

BTDT, with the plastic cover. It works, sorta. Weeds will still grow, just not as prolifically. They will travel many feet to get to one of the holes.

The plastic tends to be very slick walking on it. As it doesn't anchor well, you can easily slide whole sections off position for your planted seeds. You can use that fabric, that works real well, but man is it expensive.

Doing the slicing of the plastic and then the planting of the seeds is a really remarkably tedious operation. Adding in dripper nozzles for each seedling, I almost can't imagine the tedium.

Drip nozzles plug up easily, especially if you're running creek water.

The whole thing can end up costing you a remarkable amount of money and taking a lot of maintenance time.

Not saying not to go for it, but I don't think it's the panacea you are searching for.

[Macybaby]

I'm installing one (hopefully this weekend) I'm getting the setup from Dripworks.

The main issue is water flow (not pressure) as that will deterimine how much you can run at a time. My water flow is 200 gpm, and I'm dividing my garden into 4 zones. This will also make it easier for me to fertilze and water based on the type of plants in that area.

I'm installing the T-Tape and will mulch with grass over the top. This operates on 10 lbs pressure MAX so I will install a regulator to limit it. I'm going to try both gravity and direct connect.

You'll need to get a GOOD fliter for the water. Dripworks sells them for pond water sources, and they are spendy, but without them, you'll plug up your line ASAP.

I'll be reporting on my setup in the Garden Forum, I sure hope I didn't just waste $600 dollars!

Cathy

[sebastes]

the farmers around here are all converting to subsurface drip tape. They also install one sand filter per 20 acres of field. Talking to the farmer who leases the field next to my house he stated that the drip tape doesn't save on water and pumping but that his yield has increased 30% since withing 10 minutes of turning on the system every plant is getting water.

They bury the tape 12 inches deep and plant starts at 8 inches deep. this has helped them to keep weeds down and the fields converted to drip tape don't require a hoeing crew a couple times each year. The biggest problem they encounter is gophers chewing holes in the drip tape which can be a pain for them to fix with crops in the fields. They estimate the life of the drip tape in the field to be in excess of 8 years per field and the farmers I've talked to expect at least 10 years on their setups.

If you are using drip tape remember that it has one orientation for when it is buried and another if you are just laying it on the surface. If you install it incorrectly you won't be satisfied with the results. Also some type of filter is a must as well as a pressure regulator. They make small regulators that screw onto a hose bib and they run about $15 each.

[Macybaby]

So that is how they do the "bury" application. That would have worked very well for my situation, maybe I can do that next year. Since my plants are already in, I'm stuck with surface for this year. That is one thing I've not liked about Dripworks, they don't go into a lot of explanations for the DIY'er. I think they are use to selling to people who already understand how to use the product. I had a hard time trying to figure out what I needed and resorted to having them help with the design. Once I got the draft back, it showed what needed to go where, and I made significant changes and come up with something I liked better. I had them go over it to make sure I wasn't forgetting something important.

At least don't have gophers around the garden, and the cats love to patrol the garden so that keeps other rodents down. The first year we lived here we saw the occasional gopher (ground squirril). The first year we had the dog we saw the occasional gopher dead in the yard - now we don't see them within a quarter mile of the house. We don't have pocket gophers either - sure do hate those!

Cathy